Need advice from parents, please!

[foreverproud]

Ashley,

Talk ...never, never fight. Provide your parents with as much information about your choice as you can. There is nothing wrong with asking for your parents support. You may or you may not receive their approval/support and if your step-father finds it hard to understand your choice right now ... so be it. If his disapproval comes from love and concern ... well ... its just his fear for your safety that he is able to express right now. Give him time ... eventually I believe he will be very proud having three daughters who have made the decision to serve.

It is, of course an adult decision and you must own your decision as truly your own. If you waver in your choice because of family disapproval or fear then I would say you would need to rethink your motovation.

As far as my own situation, I was never fearful for my son, but did stress the point that I thought it was important that he was sure ... I guess a parent finds it hard to believe that anyone 18 years old can be 100% sure of anything. As it turned out joining the Marines was the one thing he was 100% sure he wanted to do. He has always had our support and I can state with 100% certainty that I have never regretted giving him my support nor will I ever.

Give your step-dad time and keep him and your mom informed.

The very best to you and your sisters.

[LHMHMOM]

As a lot of posts have suggested, the websites and books are great for parents. I read everything that I could get my hands on when my son decided to join. I also watched anything that I could find on the military channel that had anything to do with the Marines.

But the thing that helped me the most was talking to the recruiters and other parents. After talking to the recruiters my thought was "if my son turns out to be like these men then this will be wonderful for him". The recruiters put me in touch with a local parents support group. After spending some time with Marine parents I couldn't wait to be one myself. Your parents may never get to that point but there is nothing that can compare to talking to others who have been there. They know exactly how your parents feel because they had the same feelings themselves. Talk to your recruiter and see if you have access to a local support group. If not, the recruiters might know other parents who would be willing to meet your parents and talk to them.

The worst thing for me was talking to people (family mostly) who had not experienced having a child decide to join the military. They mean well but they just don't get it. It was very sad for me when I realized that my family couldn't understand why I was so proud and excited for my son.

Good luck!! It sounds like your parents are already coming around so I'm sure they will be fine.

[Gator347]

Amen, on the best person to speak with parents is the "Recruiter". My son's recruiter was awesome.

We thought my son was going to go USAF or Air Guard because his JROTC unit was USAF. Iraq was ugly at that time.

When my son told us that his recruiter was coming over and would be there in an hour, I thought my wife (Step-Mom) was going to @#$% but the recruiter was nothing but smooth. Heck, after he was finished, I wanted to go

Now, my son's Mom did everything to stop him. Turns out, instead, my son talked his Step-Brother into joining the Corps

Just let your Step-Dad try to be anything but proud on Graduation Day. There is nothing like MCRD on that day